A Shop to Build Your Hit Product

When Anton Willis moved into an apartment in San Francisco and had to put his fiberglass kayak in storage, the architect began experimenting with a kayak that could fold up. He turned that idea into reality this year at TechShop, a three-story workshop in the city outfitted with 3-D printers, laser cutters and other sophisticated tools to develop products and prototypes.

With partner Ardy Sobhani, Mr. Willis used TechShop’s tools and space to create a 12-foot, 25-pound plastic kayak that folds into the size of a suitcase. In October, the pair started a company, Oru Kayak Inc., which is raising money on the fundraising site Kickstarter and has so far snagged more than $220,000.

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